Saturday, November 14, 2009

Daring Cook's November Challenge

The November 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was brought to you by Audax of Audax Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen. They chose sushi as the challenge.
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I want to thank Audax and Rose for the challenge.

It truly was a challenge!
The recipe is really, really long.
I didn't post it, because I wanted more room for my pics, but go to Audax or Rose's blog to see the step by step directions.
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Before this, I had never tasted sushi (or wanted to taste it).
And now that I've tasted it-
I hate it.
Let's just get that out of the way.
The nori tastes and smells like a stagnant lake.
The rice is sticky and sweet. And not in a good way.


Although, you might remember I said here in my Pumpkin/Bulghur post
that I wasn't crazy about white rice.

It also seems like a lot of work and mess for pretty, but inedible food.
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First, the spiral sushi roll with baby corn, coconut black beans*, fried red and yellow pepper.


Ta da!



I like wasabi and peppers so I ate that.


See below for the fate of the sushi.
Bwahaha! (evil laughter)



The dragon roll.


So cute!


And so yucky!





I used fake crab sticks and fried peppers inside.


Avocado on top and red pepper for the flames.



Black beans for the eyes.




And the nigiri sushi.
I thought I might like these, because they don't have any nori.


But it's a huge chunk of rice with toppings.


I ate the tops.


Yum! Smoked cheddar cheese, rum/ginger/cinnamon syrup raisins and kiwi slices.










I ate some of the rice with coconut black beans and topped it with avocado.

It was tasty.


What did I do with all of that sushi?




My girls had a sushi party!

They didn't like the nori.

Or the rice.
Too sticky for chicken beaks.


They picked out the fillings.

Silly chickens!
They usually gobble up rice.



*Coconut Black Beans
1 cup dry black beans, rinsed
1 can coconut milk
1 small dried chile
1/2 tsp dried onion
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger powder
salt to taste
Rinse beans. Add beans and 6 cups water to med. saucepot. Bring to a boil and boil for 10 mins. Remove from burner, cover and let soak for 1 hour.
Drain beans and rinse (again).
Add rinsed beans, coconut milk and spices to the saucepot.
Simmer at med./low heat until the coconut milk volume has been reduced in half.
About 1 hour.
Beans should be tender by now, but still holding their shape.
Add salt to taste and serve.





18 comments:

  1. I adore you. I really do. Love not that you don`t like it, but how you write about it.
    And your Girls are adorable.

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  2. At least you have tried and you have mastered edible art.

    I do not get urges to eat raw fish either.

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  3. LOL, i love this post. At least you got some nice pictures from the challenge! and your girls got a party too ;)

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  4. I loved all those vegetarian filllings/toppings..I fell very short on the creativity department there..

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  5. I'm sorry the sushi didn't click with you - I think it looks fantastic! The chickens are adorable as well =D.

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  6. Baby corn! Why didn't I think of that?! Your dessert sushi is very clever, although I'd probably just eat the topping, too! ;)

    I'm glad you tried it! :)

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  7. Well you can make stunningly beautiful sushi and I love your honest comments you cannot like everything. The best posting so far because I love chickens great idea to feed it to the chooks (Aussie slang for chickens). I especially love the spiral rolls so elegant and jewell-like. Cheers from Audax in Ausstralia.

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  8. Kudos for attempting the challenge! Sushi is definitely a acquired taste. I am glad that at least somebody got to enjoy the sushi.

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  9. Love your dragon roll! That was very imaginative. Love that the chickens got to taste it. Very funny.

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  10. Thanks for all the nice comments everyone!
    I'm glad I tried making sushi - now at least, I can have an opinion about it.
    And it was fun - like making a craft.
    ha ha! Crafty cooking.

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  11. Lol too funny that you fed it to the chickens! Your sushi did look pretty though....

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  12. O..M..G...I would never in my life expect to see chickens eating sushi. Too funny. Good for you for at least doing the chalenge anyways lol

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  13. OMG..I luv you! I was in tears reading your post. I agree, the nori does smell and taste like stagnant (don't forget 'festering' too) lake, hence why I prefer inside out rolls - you don't really taste it. However, what a job you banged out. Your sushi looks incredible! I bow to you oh master of 'so funny' and kick ass sushi skillz (even though you fed it to the chickens) LOL

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  14. Excellent...*L* I am a fan of sushi and yours looked gorgeous...I can't imagine cooking...or preparing..something I didn't like. You're a star. x

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  15. Thank you! Thank you!
    I've never felt so much blogging love!
    It's great!
    *hugs* to you all

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  16. Love the chickens eating the sushi. I have to say I personally really like sushi, but only certain things and I HATE making it (way too much effort and never as good). If you're willing to give it another try, I recommend a warm day (who wants sushi when it's cold?), a really good sushi bar, a Japanese beer and sticking to basics like salmon (salmon on rice), sweet shrimp (nigiri), and tuna. Roll wise, crunchy rolls are my favorite. Not sure if you are a vegetarian - if you are, I wouldn't bother with sushi - so not worth it.

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  17. We love sushi, even my three year old. I guess it all depends. I AM cracking up that you did all of that work - because it IS work - and gave it to your Girls. They don't even know how good they've got it!

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